Having supported over 5,000 clients globally with their business administration, we know a thing or two about how to get the most out of your outsourcing partner. To help shed some light on this, we have outlined five key steps to ensure you are following best practice.

The outsourcing landscape has changed drastically over the past two years, with 70% of UK businesses now using this as a cost-effective and scalable option, according to YouGov.

Whilst the benefits of outsourcing – cost savings, greater agility, reduced risk – are widely published, less information is given on how to forge a strong and successful outsourcing agreement.

Having supported over 5,000 clients globally with their business administration, we know a thing or two about how to get the most out of your outsourcing partner. To help shed some light on this, we have outlined five key steps to ensure you are following best practice.

Understand your business support requirements and how outsourcing expertise can fulfil your expectations to improve performance.
The first step is to get a clear idea of the type of support you need. Are you or your team spending hours on diary management? Maybe the volumes of calls coming through to your business are unmanageable or out with core business hours?

Building a picture of what is draining your resources will allow you to work effectively with your outsourcing partner from the outset, creating a clear picture of what you need from them.

Make the best use of your onboarding journey to ensure there is a culture of trust and co-operation in place with the right people on both sides of the business to create a seamless outsourcing experience.

This one is all about building relationships. An initial meeting with your service provider over video call or in person is important to set clear expectations and ensure that you are on the same page. This is also a chance to chat and get to know each other, this will help your outsourcing partner get a better picture of who you are as a person and how you like things done.

We appreciate the importance of customer confidentiality. Making sure that your security processes are rigorous will help to build and maintain trust between you and your outsourcing partner.

Another reason it is so crucial that these systems are secure and compliant is to ensure project requirements are delivered on time.

Ongoing communication is key, to ensure that your partner is prioritising the right tasks for you and to ensure that you’re not working at cross purposes.

Avoid competing priorities by hosting regular team catch ups across different channels. Speaking personally with your support team is an important part of the outsourcing relationship and avoids confusion or conflict.

Collective meetings with the right skills are important so everyone is working to an agreed plan. Having the opportunity to share ideas and learnings with different professionals is key when delivering impactful service solutions.

This also helps your outsourcing partner to get a better idea of the wider business activity and creates a great opportunity for them to collaborate with your wider team by making recommendations to streamline processes or to take feedback and generate learnings in a wider setting.

SmartPA is a trusted supplier of business administration services with over ten years’ experience empowering professionals to transform the way they work. Our established team of virtual personal assistants offer the flexibility, agility and tailored capability required to maximise efficiency and streamline your processes, helping to power your productivity.